On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” 2012 Republican vice-presidential nominee and Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan said the experience he gained during his 2012 election run made a future presidential run more personally viable.
“Actually, I enjoyed the experience,” Ryan said. “It made it more realistic in my mind. It’s something that I much better understand, and [my wife] Jan and I were talking about it just the other day — we look at it as a very positive experience. We actually enjoyed it.”
However, Ryan ruled out seeking an elected leadership post within the House of Representatives, and even downplayed the prospects of a 2016 presidential run.
“I have no plans to be in House-elected leadership,” Ryan said. “If I wanted to be in elected leadership like speaker, I would have run for these jobs years ago. I’ve always believed the better place for me is in policy leadership like being a chairman. With respect to running for president, I honestly think we have a problem right now that’s a budget mess, that’s a debt crisis coming. I’m the chairman of the budget committee. I represent the 1st district of Wisconsin. I should focus on that.
“That’s to me the most important thing,” he continued. “And I shouldn’t be clouding my judgment today by thinking about some political thing four years from now.”